An Essay on the History of Civil Society.

The third edition, printed the year after the first, of the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Adam Ferguson's (1723-1816) major contribution to political theory.

A friend of Adam Smith and David Hume, Ferguson was Professor of Pneumatics and Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1764 to 1785, when he was succeeded by his erstwhile student Dugald Stewart. His seminal Essay on the History of Civil Society offered a 'non-deterministic historical account of the way nations advance morally and materially towards the state of commerce, refinement, and liberty associated with eighteenth-century Britain' (ODNB).

Ferguson rejected both the legalistic accounts of the emergence of governments through social contract theory, and Rousseauian notions predicated on natural law and moral and economic evolutionism. Instead, he looked to the interplay of a host of factors from moral culture to geography to explain the rise of the modern nation state. His Essay proved popular, running to seven editions within his lifetime, and helped to secure Ferguson's status as a serious scholar both in Britain and on the continent.

The book proved particularly influential with the American Founding Fathers — we know, for instance, that Thomas Jefferson had a copy of this the third edition in his library. Ferguson had befriended Benjamin Franklin on the latter's visit to Edinburgh in 1771, and in 1778 he was invited to accompany the Carlisle commission to Philadelphia to negotiate an agreement with George Washington and the Continental Congress.

A lovely, unrestored example in the original sprinkled calf binding, with contemporary provenance for the barrister James Whalley of Middle Temple.

Third edition, corrected; 8vo (21 x 13.5 cm); dated ownership inscription in pen to title, related armorial bookplate to front pastedown, slight dampstaining to lower right corner; contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine in 6 compartments, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece,spine head cap slightly chipped with minor loss, a little rubbed, very good; vii, [1], 464pp.

ESTC T75304.